September 19, 2025
By Marc Stier
The federal government fiscal year ends on September 30th, and the government will shut down without congressional action to appropriate funds after that date.
The Republicans are planning to pass a continuing resolution (CR) by the end of this week, which would extend the current year budget through November 21st.
That bill must be approved by a majority of the House and, because of the filibuster, 60 votes in the Senate. To get to 60 votes, the Republicans need seven Democrats to vote for the CR. Because some Republicans in the House seek cuts to the budget, some Democratic votes may be necessary to pass the bill there as well.
The need for Democratic votes means that this is a unique moment at which Democrats—and perhaps even a few Republicans who have concerns about recent policy changes—have some leverage over the budget.
The Democratic leaders of the House and Senate have proposed an alternative continuing resolution that includes provisions regarding the following three categories:
Health Care
- Reverse the devastating cuts to Medicaid in the huge, ugly reconciliation bill. Depending on how they are implemented, these cuts will lead to between 375,000 and 576,000 people losing health insurance in our state alone.
- Permanently extend enhanced tax credits that lower monthly premiums for millions of American families. The enhanced tax credits drastically reduce the cost of health insurance on the Pennsylvania health care exchange, Pennie. We estimate that 270,000 people will lose insurance as a result of the failure to extend these tax credits. And those who remain on Pennie will see increases in health care insurance costs ranging from 50% to 117%.
Democracy and the Budget
In multiple ways, President Trump has violated both our law and our constitution by freezing and reducing funds that have been appropriated by laws that Congress has passed and he has signed. Anyone who has studied this country’s history knows this is wrong. “Taxation without representation!” was the Revolutionary War cry. And the founders gave Congress the primary role in determining spending and taxation to ensure that we the people can shape the federal budget. The President has been given authority by Congress to call for recissions of certain spending if Congress approves. But he has no legislative authority to do so without congressional approval. His actions thus violate the U.S. Constitution. In response, Democrats are proposing a number of legislative provisions to limit President Trump’s illegal budgetary action, including
- extending the availability of funds frozen by OMB that would otherwise expire on September 30th, including those in the President’s pocket recissions made during a recess which denied Congress the opportunity to disapprove them. This would effectively revoke those recissions.
- preventing the President from making any further unilateral efforts to freeze spending that has been approved by Congress for fiscal year 2026 in a continuing resolution or any other appropriation bill. Among other things, this would restore funding for public radio and TV stations.
- ensuring that the $2.9 billion in emergency fiscal year 2025 funding is spent as Congress has required.
- creating and filling an inspector general role for the Office of Management and Budget to monitor it for illegal actions.
Should We Risk a Government Shutdown?
It is quite possible that the Republicans’ failure to include these provisions in the continuing resolution may lead to a temporary failure to fund the government beyond the end of the month. This is a risk we are willing to take for three reasons.
First, the health and lives of millions of Americans are at stake. If the only way to protect them is for members of Congress to hold up funding the budget, we think the majority of Americans are willing to bear the consequences of a government shutdown to fight for our fellow citizens.
Second, the fundamental right of the Congress, and thus the people who elect the members of Congress, to exercise control over the power of the purse has been threatened by President Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional freezing of government spending. Again, we think the majority of Americans are willing to bear the consequences of a government shutdown to fight for the rights of the people and for the Congress to play its rightful role in our republic.
And third, a shutdown is an appropriate action at a time when the President and Vice President are calling on the federal government to deny funding to, or otherwise punish, American citizens and organizations and private businesses whose staff or owners express views they disapprove of. President Trump and Vice President Vance don’t seem to understand that they are calling for action that violates the First Amendment, which protects our rights of free speech and peaceful assembly. A temporary shutdown of a government verging on tyranny is an appropriate response.
With Trump’s approval dropping in the polls, and the public deeply concerned about health cuts and about the Trump–Vance threats to our basic liberties, this is the time for Democrats to stand up and make sure everyone knows which side they are on.